The Xie Family started breakfast early, at just past six o'clock.
Xie Changrong asked his daughter-in-law, "Did you take Yingying to see your cousin and ask how things were?"
Sun Rongfang recalled the experience from the night before and had no desire to answer.
Seeing his daughter-in-law's expression, Xie Changrong seemed to have expected such a response, saying, "Haven't I said it before? Hoping for Yingying to become a doctor is less realistic than placing our hopes on our son."
Last night, Zhou Ruomei and Ding Ruohai had indeed said as much, mentioning that the chances for a woman to become a surgeon were virtually zero. Becoming a surgeon might sound prestigious, but general practitioners are considered mediocre by the average person.
Sun Rongfang picked up her chopsticks: "Let's eat," she said, adding another egg to the bowl of her son, who was still in elementary school.
Xie Wanying was all too familiar with the scene before her. That year, her mother had insisted on having another son despite her advanced age, even if it meant paying a fine or being fired and disgraced at work.
The Xie family couldn't be without a grandson, a male descendant, or the extinguishing of their family line—that was her father's and the entire Xie Family's attitude. Her mother could only go along with her husband's wishes.
Since elementary school, Xie Wanying had earned a pile of awards, but all she could ultimately gain was her father's praise, coupled with the refrain, "It's a pity she's a girl with no future."
The problem was that everyone around her, whether her parents' colleagues or friends and relatives, all said the same thing: "Raising a daughter is not as good as raising a son."
Even the intellectual aunt and her husband believed, "A woman can't wield the scalpel; only a man has the opportunity."
The phone rang. Xie Changrong stood up to answer it, saying to his wife, "It's from my dad, most likely."
Grandpa Xie was on the other end telling his son, "I've inquired around, and Yingying should apply to the normal college. It's best for a woman to be a teacher."
Hearing this, Xie Changrong became even more pleased, saying to his overly optimistic wife and daughter, "Look, even my father says so."
Sun Rongfang "snap" dropped her chopsticks, too angry to continue eating, and went to hang clothes on the balcony.
Perhaps her mother once dreamed of breaking free from all these constraints, but being powerless herself, she could only pin her hopes on her daughter; she bought a hundred-yuan bag of Sunkist oranges, yet even the well-educated cousin scorned the idea of a woman.
Stuffing a bun into her mouth, Xie Wanying picked up her schoolbag and walked to the door, where she pushed her bicycle out and rode away.
With the college entrance exam approaching, at the end of June and beginning of July, the scorching heat was intense and the sun already fierce early in the morning. Students heading to school braved the baking sun, riding bicycles through the bustling streets. Xie Wanying's school, Jin Qiao High School, was ranked first in Songyuan City.
It was precisely because her daughter attended such a prestigious school that Sun Rongfang harbored a sliver of hope for her daughter's future. However, Zhou Ruomei's words the previous night had revealed a harsh reality: there's always someone better.
Songyuan City was not the provincial capital but just a second-tier prefectural city in the province. A student ranked within the top hundred from Songyuan would drop to several thousand when compared at the provincial level. The college entrance exam was not merely a competition against students from one's own city but against the whole nation.
Even so, Zhou Ruomei had clearly gone too far with what she said last night, intentionally hurting her cousin and the cousin's daughter.
A mock exam's results are no indication of the actual college entrance exam. Many students who do well in mocks flounder in the real exam, while others who perform mediocrely in mocks suddenly shoot up like rockets come exam time, achieving outstanding results.
Xie Wanying reflected on her previous life, when she had actually been scared by her aunt's words, and as a result, dutifully chose the medical laboratory technology program at a second-tier medical college when filling out her college application.